


Chance Meetings

by kickcows



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Meet-Cute, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 22:38:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5433389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kickcows/pseuds/kickcows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Waiting for a flight in the middle of the night, you meet some strange people. But on this trip, Makoto runs into someone that makes waiting not so terrible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chance Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posting from my [tumblr ](http://heartlessfujoshi.tumblr.com/post/127849922000/hi-are-you-still-doing-that-send-a-pair-and-a). 
> 
> Prompt requested - 'Wanna bet?'

* * *

 

Angry passengers are standing up from their seats, the plane finally at its gate after sitting on the tarmac for close to thirty minutes. Makoto doesn’t care, and in fact, is more than happy to sit in his seat for as long as necessary, because he knows that his next flight isn’t due to take off until close until dawn. Thanks to the captain updating the passengers which planes were on time, and which were delayed, he finds out the hard way that he’s in for a very long night. He looks at the watch on his left wrist, and sighs. Just past 2:00 AM. Fantastic.

He grabs his bag from under the seat, and gets up from his row, heading towards the front of the plane. With a smile on his face, he thanks the crew and the captains for their hard work, and walks onto the jet bridge, shivering a little as the night air passes through the cracks. He heads into the airport, and walks over to a terminal, to see where his next flight will be taking off from. Whenever the flight leaves, that is. He sees it’s just a few gates to his left, so he decides to head to the coffee shop that seems to still be operating, even at this time of night.

One order of a venti mocha with lots of whipped cream in his hand, he heads to his gate, slowly sipping on it. He sees a few passengers are scattered around, one with a large black bag that has the flag of his home country on it, as well as the five rings of the Olympics. Is this man an athlete? Makoto pauses, trying to think of what this man could be doing, as it’s still the spring. Oh, he must be doing a summer sport! Deciding to see who this man is, perhaps he’s seen him in meets (he does enjoy watching swimming competitions - he used to be a swimmer in high school), he walks over to the man who has an Olympic cap resting over his eyes.

“Excuse me?” He speaks in Japanese, knowing that this man must know it. “Are you an Olympian?”

“English.” He hears the male speak with a strange hybrid accent. It has the lilt of a regular Japanese speaker, but has the tonality of an Aussie.

Switching over, he nods his head. “Okay. My English is not great, but I try.” He sets his bag down, and takes a seat across from where this man is still laying on the seats. “Are you Olympics?”

“Am I…?” The male takes the hat off of his face, and sits up, revealing maroon hair, strands coming down to his chin, but short in the back. “Yes, I’m on the team for the Olympics.” The Aussie accent is gone when the man slips into his native language.

Makoto adjusts the glasses on his face, pushing them up on the bridge of his nose. “Ah, thank you for switching back to Japanese. Sorry, my English is really pretty terrible. Did I say something wrong?” He pushes some of his hair back, the sugar from the whipped cream seeming to do a number on his body, manifesting in a nervous energy.

“No, not really.” The male grins. “It’s okay. Are you going back to Japan right now?”

“If by right now, you mean in like, 3 hours, then yes.” Makoto nods his head, taking a sip of his now lukewarm mocha. “I didn’t think the flight would be delayed this long.”

A grunt comes from the other man’s throat. “Yeah, I’m not too happy about it myself. I’ve been traveling for about 15 hours already. I was sleeping, albeit uncomfortably.” He yawns, stretching his arms over his head. Makoto looks down, and sees the toned stomach, and feels his cheeks grow a little warm at the small glimpse of skin.

“Fifteen hours? That’s a long time.” Makoto leans back in his chair. “Were you training somewhere? Are the rest of your teammates not with you?” He looks around, not seeing anyone else wearing the same trainer outfit as this man has on.

“No, I’m traveling alone.” The Olympian comments. “I was visiting some family on holiday in Cairo. Flying into Rome was cheaper than taking a direct flight home.”

Makoto nods. “I was in London myself, and you’re right. It’s much cheaper to fly through here first. Of course, if I had known we’d be stuck because of a delay, I might have paid the extra 50,000 yen.”  

“Good point.” The man with maroon hair leans over, extending his hand out. “My name is Matsuoka. Rin Matsuoka.”

He takes it, shaking it firmly. “I’m Makoto Tachibana. Nice to meet you, Matsuoka-san.”

“You can call me Rin, if you’d like.”

“And please, you may call me Makoto.” He smiles, and lets go of his hand. “What sport are you an athlete in, Rin?”

The man takes a seat, and crosses his leg over his knee. “How about you guess?”

“Guess? Me?” Makoto squeaks, shaking his head. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think whatever I say will be wrong, and then you’ll just make fun of me.” He sips his mocha, feeling stupid, his face burning.

A loud laugh rings out. “I would never make fun of you. Not a fellow countryman who isn’t laughing at my horrible Japanese. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve spoken Japanese?”

“I have no idea.” Makoto says, crossing his leg in the same manner. He wishes he wasn’t wearing jeans. As comfortable as they were, he would kill to be wearing something like Rin is wearing.

“A long time. You would think being on the Japanese team, it would be required. But no, we practice often out of country a lot, so it’s easier to use English.” Rin sighs. “So, what sport do you think I play?”

Makoto finishes his mocha, and sets the empty cup near his bag. “I told you, I am a terrible guesser. I have no idea. What if I get it wrong? I don’t want to offend you.”

More laughter rings out, the smile on the athlete’s face doing a number on Makoto’s body. “I doubt you will offend me. Trust me.” He leans forward, balancing his elbows on his knees, resting his chin on his folded hands. “How about we make this interesting.”

“H-How would we make it interesting?” Makoto’s hand goes up to his neck, the turtleneck he’s wearing suddenly very constricting on his throat.

“Wanna bet?”

Blinking, he stares at the man. “I’m sorry? Did you just ask me if I wanted to place a bet?”

“Yep.” Rin nods his head. “If you guess correctly, I will give you my first class seat.” He pulls his plane ticket out of his bag, holding it up. “If you guess incorrectly, then you just have to suffer with me until our flight leaves.”

His cheeks start to feel warm, as he thinks about the options. “I mean, won’t we be stuck together here, no matter what the outcome is?”

“Well, yeah. So that means, you won’t lose anything.” Rin smiles, leaning back in his chair. “So, how about it? Care to take a guess?”

Since there was really nothing for him to lose, Makoto decided to take the bait. “Well, how about this. Will you stand up for me, and take off your jacket?”

“Haaaaaah?” The shocked look on the athlete’s face makes Makoto almost laugh out loud. “Why do you want me to take off my jacket?”

“So I can see if you’re muscular on top or not.” He says it with a straight face, proud of himself. In truth, he already has an idea what sport Rin competes in, but wanted to see if this stranger would agree to it. There is something about him that makes Makoto feel like a teenager, not having felt this sort of camaraderie in a very long time. Almost 10 years, in fact.

The other male stands up, and takes off his jacket, revealing very toned arms, and broad shoulders. “I don’t know why this would make any difference. For all you know, I’m in track and field - a pole vaulter.” Rin smirks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Actually, I was going to say that you’re a tennis player.” Makoto replies. “Probably play both singles and doubles, am I right?”

The smirk quickly turns into a large smile. “Sorry, Mr. Tachibana. Looks like you are stuck in your seat. You did not guess correctly.”

“Really?” Makoto asks, fixing his oversized Oxford sweatshirt, not at all surprised he was wrong. He had a feeling it wasn’t right, but unlike before, he really didn’t feel that embarrassed for guessing wrong. Not if he got another smile like the one that is on Rin’s face right at this moment. “Not a tennis player, huh? Are you really in track and field?”

Rin shakes his head. “No, I’m not. I’m actually a swimmer. I swim mostly freestyle, sometimes butterfly, and then I’ve swam in the relay.” The animated way he speaks makes Makoto listen with rapt attention. “I’m not sure if I’ll get to swim in the relay for the Olympics, but we’ll see.”

“Are you nervous about it?” He watches Rin stand up, putting his jacket back on. “Is it weird, competing at such a high level?”

“You get used to it.” Rin takes a seat next to him, rather than across from him. Makoto turns to look at him, their knees colliding, but neither doing a thing to move them away from one another. “It’s not that big of a deal. Just as long as I can shut the noise out, and get into my head, then I’m good.”

“What did you place in your last race?” Makoto asks.

“1st. Had a 3 second lead on the second place person too.” Rin’s smile is infectious, Makoto’s own lips mirroring the genuine happiness. “Look, Makoto, I have-”

A lovely woman’s voice came over the PA system, cutting Rin off. “Ladies and gentlemen. We are so sorry about the delay. It looks like the plane is now arriving, so once we get the plane cleared, we’ll allow passengers to board, and then we’ll get you to your destination as quick as possible.”

Both men looked at each other, as a cheer traveled around their area, other passengers that have been stuck because of the delay elated they were leaving much earlier than they anticipated. Makoto feels his heart pounding in his chest, not sure if it’s because of the sugar and caffeine coursing through his system, or if it’s because of something else. He bites his lip, adjusting the glasses on his face out of nervous habit.

Passengers start to disembark off their arrived plane, the noise level rising considerably. Rin leaves over and speaks into Makoto’s ear. “Listen, I know we just met and all, but I had a lot of fun talking with you. Can I get your number?”

“I don’t see why not.” Makoto feels lightheaded, happy that this is what Rin had been trying to ask. “I live in Tokyo, though.”

“Me too!” Rin pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Number?”

After a quick exchange, they put their phones away, their knees now knocking together more so on purpose than accident, as before. Makoto wants to stay in the airport lounge longer, but the woman comes over the PA system a second time, announcing that First Class and passengers needing assistance can proceed over to the boarding area.

Makoto stands up with Rin, a nervous smile on his face. “Well, I guess enjoy your flight. I hope that you’ll call me sometime?”

“Definitely.” Rin agrees, and extends his hand out. Makoto takes it, and shakes it, smiling at how nice the man’s hand feels in his. “Nice to meet you, Makoto.” He gives a small wave, and heads towards the queue.

He watches him show his ticket, and then keeps watching him while he walks down the jet bridge. Makoto sighs, and walks over to the queue when his part of the plane is asked to begin boarding, the area becoming significantly more crowded. He hands over his ticket, and walks down the jet bridge, the night air bitter and cold. Walking onto the plane, he smiles for the steward that is standing there, greeting each person as they board. He looks through the first class area, and sees Rin sitting in the middle, on the right side of the plane, his hat over his eyes, no doubt asleep. He watches him out of the corner of his eye, as he passes down the row, heading back to his seat.

Plopping down, he sighs. Hopefully it won’t be a very full flight, but with the amount of people he saw earlier, he doubts that will be the case. He turns off his phone, and puts it in his bag, before pulling out his eye mask and headphones, determined to sleep for this last portion of his trip home. He puts both on, closing his eyes. All he can see is that large smile on Rin’s face, making his heart beat faster. He falls asleep, the lull of the jet engine knocking him out before they even take off.

When they touch down in Tokyo, Makoto pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns it back on. A text immediately pops up. “ _Thanks for killing time with me. You’re really cute. Hopefully that’s not too weird to tell you. :-/ Call you soon._ ” He looks up, and sees passengers already getting up from their seats, clogging up the pathway, making it so Makoto can no longer see the first class area of the plane.

“ _I think you’re very handsome too. Yes, please call me soon. :-)_ ” He puts his phone in his pocket, and hopes that he’s made Rin smile in the same way he had seen earlier in the evening. Morning. Whatever.

Looking out the window of the airplane, he smiles. After an exhausting amount of travel, it’s good to be back home.


End file.
